Recruiter Charged In Brawl Faces Courtroom Battle Today

TAVARES — The trial of an Army recruiter charged with brawling with Navy and Marine rivals in a battle for recruits in Leesburg is set to begin today.

If convicted, Sgt. 1st Class Rudolphus D. Jackson not only faces the possibility of a prison sentence but the potential end of his 12-year career and additional punishment by the military. He is charged with aggravated battery, assault and criminal mischief.

Also on trial will be two fellow Army recruiters, Luis Jimenez-Miranda of Eustis and James Robert Byrd of Mascotte. They have been charged with misdemeanor battery.

Jackson faces felony charges because police said he hit a Marine in the head with a tire iron.

However, Bombaugh said the military does not ''believe in double jeopardy,'' so if the men are found not guilty, they will be reassigned but not tried again.

Jackson was suspended from recruiting after the incident.

Jackson has had an exemplary career since enlisting in the Army in 1984 after graduating from Apopka High School.

He has been a top recruiter and served with the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm.

He has been awarded the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

But police said Feb. 21 was a wild afternoon at the recruiting offices on North Boulevard.

Police said Jackson had words with a Navy recruiter earlier in the day. He returned later with a tire iron, looking for the sailor who was trying to sign up the same recruit Jackson was after.

The Navy recruiter wasn't in, but Jackson began swinging the tire iron anyway, witnesses said, smashing a computer keyboard and a desk clock and tipping over a copy machine.

Then two Marine recruiters showed up and ended up fighting with Jimenez-Miranda and Byrd outside, investigators said.

Jackson kicked one of the Marines in the face and struck another in the head with the tire iron, police said. One Marine needed treatment at a hospital.

Army officials said they didn't know what triggered the disturbance, but officials said recruiters are under intense pressure to find candidates capable of learning the technology involved in the service today.

''It's very competitive,'' said Petty Officer James Hutchins, a Navy counselor in Altamonte Springs.